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Meet the Drug-Dealing Grandmother, a Pillar of Buffalo's Community

The streets of Buffalo's East Side haven't been the same without Theresa Anderson. For a dozen years, the 58-year-old controlled the area's drug game, purchasing abandoned houses to bolster her operation, which she ran along with the help of her family. That was until February 2012, when the homes were raided by SWAT Teams.

Oddly enough, neighbors miss her presence. "I miss Theresa, I really do," Debra Walker confessed. "“I actually felt safer. Now my place has been broken into." According to the New York Daily News, Anderson and her family drove rival dealers out, yet somehow created a safe atmosphere for residents.

Neighbor Deanna Gresko said she felt safer when the Anderson organization was present to curb the prostitution that now takes place in those abandoned homes. City Councilman David Franczyk called these admissions "sad commentary," adding that "it's like the old days of Prohibition when you looked for the mob to keep order on your street...but it's a false sense of security."

Like it or not, Anderson was a force in that community, because, well....'Merica.